a bag of chips

My girls.

Whoa!  Has it been that long since I've posted?   So sorry!  Lots going on the past few weeks and I am certain the the weeks to come will see yet another dry spell on this old blog.  Anywhooooo, where was I?

My girls.  My beautiful, lovely, spirited girlies who are just growing too damn fast.  Let's start small and work our way on up, shall we?

Miss Nadia, still Princess Two Teeth, turned TEN MONTHS OLD on Sunday.  Holy crap but that has got to be the fastest ten months on record.  Our baby is doing very well and is really such a delight.  She loves crowds and lots of activity around her, my little party animal.  She's not crawling yet but loves to stand.  And you know, I'm really okay with her not crawling and walking for a while yet.  I'm content to carry her around for a while longer.  I figure that since my slings can hold up to 40 lbs or so I'm okay with her staying my little, somewhat helpless baby for a bit longer.  And she's been more snuggly lately, randomly putting her head on my chest or lap or smearing her wet, open maw across my cheek for a kiss.  It's almost more sweetness than my old ticker can bear.  She wakes up happy and chatty and I love how excited she gets when I walk in to get her up.  She's the first real light of my mornings since I ignore the sun's rude imposition on my sleep by dragging the nearest pillow over my face until The Bigs are banging on their doors for potty, TV and breakfast, the little punks.  But I digress.   Miss Nadia, Chunky Monkey, Droolio, Rasta Gyuhl is still gleefully feeding herself at every meal, and tonight put away a vast amount of chow mien and rice from Pick Up Stix.  So far there's not much that girl won't eat.

So, without further delay, below are some photos from the past week of The Baby in all her lovely, roley poley glory:

And now on to the big girl.  Miss Makena knocks my socks off.  Really.  She's funny and smart and those dimples and perfect, pearly teeth do me in every time.  She's spunky and girly, and extremely athletic (although our first attempt at a gymnastics class was a total failure).  She's insanely patient when she's getting her hair done and never complains which, in my book, has earned her many honorary medals of honor.  Hair is a big deal in my house with two little black beauties to tend to.  And Nadia and Makena are on opposite ends of the patience and tolerance spectrum when it comes to hair.  Lordy.  On the nights when I do one of those impossible-looking braided or twisted styles in Makena's hair, she pulls over a little chair and sits down and watches a Baby Einstein dvd while I do the do.  Then after the 1/2 hour movie is over she'll ask me when I'm going to be done and I'll say "soon" and she'll say "one, two, soon."  Cracks me up.  Then I'll replay the movie and all is well again.

Makena and Aidan start a new school in September and already Makena at least once a day tells me that she doesn't want to go.  I tell her not to worry about that right now that school is still a month away, but she just keeps right on worrying, making me feel for my girl who one moment seems so strong and sure and the next is clingy and crying and anxious.  I guess in some ways I'm putting off worrying about it myself, too.  I am not looking forward to those five mornings a week when we send The Bigs off to their pre-K programs at a big private academy.  She'll look so tiny next to the eighth graders, lost in a sea of forest green uniforms and colorful backpacks, little shoulders heaving with sobs, her blankie in one hand and her brother's hand in the other.  But I'm not going to worry about that right now, okay?

I promise, that once you see this next photo you'll won't be able to stop yourself from smiling:

See?  I told you.

Peace out.

Amazingly cool.

My uber talented friend, Aaryn, has many uber talented friends, including this guy.  Things like this give me hope for mankind.

Enjoy, and thanks for sharing, Aaryn!

One happy boy.

My son is amazing.  He's been through quite a bit in his young life and continues to be a generally happy kid.  Sure, like the rest of us humans, he has his moments of obnoxiousness and whining and grumbling and fighting with Makena, but for the most part, he's a pretty cool cat.

Take, for instance, two weeks ago when Chris was going to take Aidan to Disneyland for the day, just the boys.  So the girls and I drop them off at the park at opening time and then we gleefully head down to meet my mom and step-dad for breakfast.  Less than five minutes from our destination, a very hot-headed Trini rings me up and says that it's a blackout day for our passes and they'll have to pay to get in.  Well let me tell you, my generally mild-mannered man was not ABOUT to pay to get into a park for which we paid over $600 for annual passes which he told me while whispering obscenities into his cell phone.  (He's so cute when he's mad - his accent thickens up and I could just imagine his brow creasing right over his nose.)  So when the we got back up there to pick them up, there was Aidan, calm and cool and looking quite lively (which is not how I would describe his daddy).  I expected Aidan to do as I know my four-year-old self would have - pitch a fit and cry and scream.  And he never did.  Instead we spent the day with my mom at Fashion Island, having lunch and terrorizing the koi in the lovely pond outside Restoration Hardware.  It turned out to be a fun family day.

At the moment, Aidan is going through a program to stop sucking his finger.  It's been a long road to getting him to stop and our last resort, and at the urging of his dentist, was this therapist who specializes in treating thumb/finger suckers.  We are going into our fifth day of the 21-day program and so far, so good.  For a kid who has always had one or more of his digits in his mouth for most of his life, he's doing quite well.  We also learned quite a bit about why kids do this and the effects of thumb/finger sucking on the tongue, teeth, jaw and speech.  Who knew?

I was listening to NPR the other day and heard a commentary by a single dad raising two young kids.  And as this man talked about how he finds himself trying to turn every little thing into a learning experience, he said something very interesting, something that has stuck with me since the moment I heard it.  While lecturing his six-year-old son about homework or starving children in China, his kid said "Dad, don't yuck my young."  At first I didn't quite understand what he said. Then I thought about it and then I heard it.  In my heart.  It made me think about all the times when I forget that my kids are just kids.  Not little adults.  They need discipline and they are being taught good manners, but they also need to have fun and to be artistic and to be allowed to laugh and play.  A lot.  And I think I'm harder on my boy, my boy who will be *FIVE* years old in a few short months, because he is the boy.  The big brother.  The little boy who will one day be a black man and who perhaps will have to work a bit harder than his non-black peers at proving to the world that he is a good man.  I won't get into the whole race/transracial parenting/transracial adoption thing right now, but it weighs on my mind and in my heart when it comes to growing this man.  But for now he is just a kid.  A great kid.  A kid who could teach us all a bit about not yucking up our young.

So below are a few photos of my wonderful boy, taken on that same Disneyland fiasco day.  He was sitting in the doorway to my mom's patio, cheerfully letting me take his photo, being goofy and silly and totally himself.

I love you, Aidan.  With all my heart.

Scrapbooking!

I guess it's been a while since I posted about scrapbooking.  Why is that, I wonder?  Could it be that my studio/spider haven has been buried in the rubble of prior projects?  Could it be that I've been too afraid/lazy/uninspired to rise up from the computer and CLEAN IT UP?  Oh my, but it was an embarrassing mess.  I'm a very messy scrapper so it's not a surprise to anyone who has ever stepped foot in my studio/spider haven that it can get as bad as it was.

What I love about cleaning my space is finding all the missing/hidden/buried/lost scrap treasures I find beneath the rubble.  Papers, photos, scissors, uncleaned stamps, my lost socks and the sunglasses I'd given up on ever finding.  (I'm only half kidding about the socks.)  Really, it's such a relief to pick up a little.  But, inevitably, the cleaning leads to scrapping.  It's always the same thing.  I get all gung-ho about cleaning and then !!!BAM!!! I'm swept up in a creating frenzy and then my space looks just as bad as when I started.  Hmmph.  I mean, I like the way I have things set up (and if you think I'm posting pictures of my studio/spider haven in its current state then you're surely going to be disappointed to not see just how much of a scrap slob I am) as far as organization goes, but my problems are limited time, an overabundance of products, and limited counter space.   

But, really, with as simple as my pages typically are, why is my space such a mess?  You'd think I barf paper and embellies all over every layout the way my space looks.  I'm hoping Wendy Smedley's upcoming book will help me out a bit.  I can't WAIT to get it.  And I think maybe another purge and giveaway might be on the horizon again.  Stay tuned for more on that.

So, anyway, back to the fun part about scrapbooking.  Which is - ta da! - scrapbooking!  Making pages, putting it together and then sharing it with my family and with the Peas and around here now and then.   The first LO below is one I worked up last night.  I used a pretty Fontwerks stamp and some scraps (which I was supposed to be putting away) on this one and I really like how it turned out.  And I just love that darling picture of my girl.  The next one is one that I did using a photo from our '05 Trinidad trip.  I used the same photo in a layout in the July/August issue of Simple Scrapbooks, so I've held back sharing it until the issue came out.  The last two are LOs I did for the Simple Studio that have done their time and been retired.  The first of the two was done for a challenge to use old stash supplies, so I pulled out some old KI papers and die-cuts.  The last one was an ad inspiration.

Enjoy and happy scrapping!

Love.

Love comes in many shapes and sizes, and with varying intensity.  Which is why I always feel a bit weird when I tell my husband and kids I love them right after I proclaim my love for the stinky cheese smeared across my cracker.  Sometimes it's just not right that we toss about the "L" word so freely but tend to reserve "F" bombs for only really worthwhile occasions.  But anyway.

And love is what I think is going on with this bird who pecks the crap out of my side-view mirrors on my car.  Is he in love with himself or does he think he's another bird?  Or does he just love my mirror?  I mean, it's a Honda afterall.  What's not to love?

But seriously.

Love is in church, love is in scrapbooking, love is in my finger as it presses the shutter button or the doorbell of my mom's house.  Love is in sharing the news about a dear friend who has been diagnosed with cancer.  Love is in my brother's messy divorce; I know it's there, just beneath the thick layer of petty (and not so petty) crap that is tearing him and his family apart.  Love is in the selflessness of a woman bearing a child for another who can't.  Love is in 46 faithful years of service to a beloved church and community.  Love is a single mother.  Love is following your passion and believing in yourself against all odds.  Love is in God's hand as he closes a door and opens a window.

And love brings me to my photolanthropy (the sort of clever word I made up for what giving away photo sessions is called).  I have received many, many wonderful nominations and trust me when I say that I couldn't possibly pick just one.  My big-heartedness keeps me from picking just one.  So here is what I've decided to do and forgive me from deviating a bit from my initial offer.  The folks that have been nominated in San Diego will each receive a one-hour mini session.  The sessions will all be scheduled on the same day and take place at the same location, probably either at a beach or at Balboa Park.  And the same will be done for the nominees who reside in Orange County.  But because I'll be doing so many sessions across two counties, I will not be including the additional items.

So, thanks to everyone who sent me nominations.  Your love for your family and friends was clearly evident and completely inspiring.  I look forward to meeting these wonderful people.

(artwork by me.)

Family art.

Inspired by a friend and by Ms. Donna Downey herself, we've been buying up canvases (canvasi?) at Michael's by the cartful.  And we've been having a ball.  I haven't gotten my hubby, who is surprisingly artistic for being such an engineer, to paint anything yet, but I think the idea is growing on him.  We buy cheap canvases, cheap brushes and inexpensive acrylic paints in large bottles and paint them up on the dining room table which has been draped with a cheap vinyl table cloth that is now, all on its own, a work of art. And when the paint is dry I seal the painted canvases with a coat of Mod Podge.  I'm sure I'm breaking all kinds of art rules but it's so fun to stand back and watch The Bigs create and have fun. 

The Bigs love it and they're so proud of their art.  Aidan even names his paintings.  They love to paint them for my mother who graciously hangs them in her house, and they love to see their artwork around our house.  Each of The Bigs has two of their own paintings in their rooms, and they each have one of my "masterpieces" (a very elementary butterfly and garden scene for Makena and an abstract love piece for Aidan).  We have two art pieces hung in the family room and one in the guest bath, and four on the walls of our bedroom.  They are colorful and lovely.  Aidan is quite the artist and has his own distinctive style.  Makena likes to get a canvas started and then asks me to finish it for her, which I do gladly.  We've got quite the teamwork thing going.

So, all ye with wee ones, break out the art supplies this summer and color things up a bit.  Cut out those Michael's coupons and stock up.  And if you feel like it, share any art-related projects you've got planned for the kids this summer. 

Below is some of our art: